MIAMI — Agents with the Florida Division of Law Enforcement on Thursday arrested Miami Town Commissioner Alejandro “Alex” Diaz de la Portilla on felony fees of income laundering and bribery that ended up evidently similar to accepting marketing campaign contributions but failing to disclose them, investigators said.
by means of Miami.gov
Diaz de la Portilla, 58, is going through a host of prison fees, which includes one particular rely of dollars laundering, 3 counts of unlawful payment or reward for formal habits, a person rely of bribery, one depend of prison conspiracy, four counts of formal misconduct, 1 count of campaign contribution in excessive of legal boundaries and two counts of failure to report a present, the FDLE stated.
Legal professional William W. Riley Jr. 48, of Miami, is also dealing with a litany of rates, together with one depend of funds laundering, 3 counts of illegal payment or reward for official actions, 1 rely of bribery, 1 rely of felony conspiracy and failure to disclose lobbyist charges, in accordance to a created statement by the FDLE.
Equally guys were booked into Turner Guilford Knight (TGK) Detention Centre soon after their arrest Thursday afternoon, officials mentioned.
Diaz de la Portilla was currently being held Thursday afternoon on a $72,000 bond, whilst Riley Jr. was being held on a $46,000 bond, the FDLE statement said.
The two males were being anticipated to surface in entrance of a judge for a 1st visual appearance listening to on Sept. 15.
Investigators said they observed evidence that Diaz de la Portilla and Riley Jr. acknowledged more than $15,000 in payments for Diaz de la Portilla’s brother’s Miami-Dade County Court docket judicial campaign but did not report them, as necessary by Florida law.
The FDLE assertion stated Riley Jr. managed a bank account in the identify of a Delaware-primarily based corporation that was applied to launder $245,000 in concealed political contributions made by a administration services corporation in trade for permission to make a sporting activities complex in the town of Miami.
The FDLE decided that Diaz de la Portilla also operated and managed two political committees applied not only to support his brother’s marketing campaign, but also for personal expenditures.
According to investigators, one of the committees described full donations of approximately $2.3 million and the other documented overall donations of far more than $800,000.
The investigation was assigned to the Broward State Attorney’s Business office soon after the Miami-Dade Point out Attorney’s Place of work asked for the investigation be reassigned to keep away from any feasible conflict of curiosity or physical appearance of impropriety, Broward officers said.
“It is always sad and regrettable when an elected official is criminally charged with abusing the public’s have faith in, but the community should find some solace in the fact that present-day arrest will shine a shiny light on the alleged felony conduct,” explained Miami-Dade Fee on Ethics and Community Rely on Executive Director Jose Arrojo. “The investigation leading to present-day arrest of Town
of Miami Commissioner Alex Diaz de la Portilla and community attorney William W. Riley, Jr. started as an inquiry into feasible violations of neighborhood ethics ordinances. When it turned obvious that a violation of felony regulation was indicated, the matter was introduced to prosecutors and regulation enforcement. We commend our investigators and team as perfectly as the Broward Condition Attorney’s Office environment and the Florida Office of Law Enforcement, for their operate on this situation and thank them for permitting the Ethics Fee to associate with them.”
